The Language of My Heart
by the ramblin rose
Summary: This is an AU fic about the relationship between Bette Porter and Jodi Lerner when they decide to start a new life outside of the city and away from the stresses of their old life. It's mainly them, but other characters play a large role. Rated M for language and sexual content. This is a lesbian relationship, so if that bothers you, don't read. Jobette, Jodette, L Word, femslash
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So this is my little fanfic world. It's totally AU and follows the relationship of Bette and Jodi. It takes place somewhat after the show, but ignores entirely a good many of the events of the show (i.e. Jenny's death, Tina and Bette getting back together, and a whole bunch more), that's why it's AU. Essentially you could say that the character's names are about all that I'll guarantee will be in keeping with the show. They will be going OOC to fit my needs. It's mostly Bette and Jodi, but other characters will be an important part of the story as we progress.**

**This is just my little fantasy, but I still hope you enjoy. If you read, please review. I'd love to hear from you.**

**Since I'm just feeling my way around, I apologize that this might not be the best chapter ever. I'm always better at this once I get more of a feel for my characters and settings. **

**I do not own anything related to the L Word. And all that legal mumbo jumbo, etc. This is just a fanfic for fun and I receive nothing financial for this, etc. etc.**

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 1

Bette pulled the car to a stop in front of the house. She sat there a moment, behind the steering wheel, and looked at the countryside stretching out around her. At first she hadn't been sure about this whole thing. The idea of a new start, a new life, and a whole new experience outside of what had been her comfort zone, but she was beginning to think that it had been a good idea. If nothing else, it was already proving to be more relaxing. It was difficult to feel stressed when so much tranquility seemed to pool around you.

She got out of the car and got her briefcase out, closing the door behind her. She started up the walkway toward the house, climbing the porch steps and opening the door. She was still adjusting to the idea that this was her home. This sprawling two story cabin in the middle of what could have very well been a Norman Rockwell painting, this was her _home_.

The interior of the house still smelled like fresh paint and sawdust. The house was so new that the smell almost assaulted her senses. They weren't settled in yet, that much was true, but already the house was beginning to have warm touches here and there that would later clearly identify it as a the warm and inviting space that it was supposed to be. It was only their second night in the house, after all, and Bette didn't expect it to already be put together entirely. She knew that Jodi was working tirelessly to transform the place into her vision, but artistic magic of any sort didn't happen overnight.

Bette crossed the open living room and put her briefcase near the bar area. She unbuttoned her jacket and took a moment to appreciate all that had been done today. Jodi had very nearly finished painting the living area, which was saying a lot due to its size.

The entire house _could_ have been painted by now, if they'd simply paid someone to paint it as Bette had suggested, but Jodi didn't want that. She'd insisted that she would paint it, and Bette had given in. That's what this new life was about, after all, compromise and a fresh start. Jodi was making changes to herself, and Bette was determined to do the same.

Jodi appeared moments later at the balcony to the second story. She smiled at Bette, waving down and holding up her hand to indicate that she'd be down in a moment. Bette circled around the bar and dug through a few of the boxes there, burrowing out a wine glass. She studied the few bottles of wine in their wine rack and chose one that she liked, uncorking it. It wasn't any sort of spectacular wine, so she poured a glass without the pomp and circumstance of letting the beverage breathe.

"Welcome home!" Jodi said, walking up behind Bette and placing her hand on her shoulder. Bette turned around and smiled at Jodi.

"You've got paint on your face," Bette said.

Jodi shrugged.

"I've got paint everywhere," she signed. "What do you think?" She asked, looking around the house to indicate that she was seeking Bette's commentary on the state of their abode.

"It's looking really great," Bette said, smiling. Jodi responded with a smile of her own.

"How was work?" Jodi asked.

"I think," Bette said, taking a swallow from her glass and holding it up to ask Jodi if she wanted some, "that I'm really going to like it there."

Jodi nodded toward the wine glass and Bette dug another out of the box and poured the wine, holding it out to Jodi.

"Not too small for you?" Jodi asked, signing her thanks to Bette.

Bette walked out of the kitchen and over to the couch, one of the few pieces of furniture that they'd already moved in.

"I thought it would be at first," Bette said, "but I think it's going to be just the right speed. It looks like they handle a few big name artists throughout the year, but for the most part it's just small showings. The good news is that it's close enough to the city that they get pretty good turnouts, but I don't have to worry about bringing in all the really big names all the time."

Jodi smiled at her and sat on the couch next to her.

"Good for you," she said.

The entire idea of this new life had been something that was first Jodi's suggestion, but later they'd both agreed upon it entirely. Jodi had, it seemed, always had a desire to live in the countryside. When she and Bette had begun to hit a bit of rocky spot due to problems with Tina, Jodi had decided to try and "cut Bette free".

It wasn't until then that Bette realized that she didn't want to be without Jodi. There was something refreshing about the woman. She had a sense of adventure that Bette enjoyed, but she also had a strong conviction for anything that she felt merited it. It was something to be respected.

When Jodi told Bette that she'd purchased the large parcel of land about an hour outside of the city, and that she was building her dream home there, Bette had been curious about what it might be like. She'd asked Jodi if, as a friend, she might go with her to see the place. She never imagined that she'd fall in love with the landscape.

Bette could immediately see herself living there, and oddly enough, she could see herself living there with Jodi. It was so beyond anything that they'd had in the city. To Bette's surprise, when they'd come to see the land, Jodi had prepared for them to camp there for the night. She'd always swore, since that night, that she never intended for anything to happen, but Bette never stopped teasing her that the entire thing had been a set up to seduce her and remind her what she felt for the artist.

Whether it had been Jodi's intent or not, however, the two of them had spent the night making love in the intimate tent, and they'd spent much of the next day lounging together and discussing the possibility of growing old right there in the same spot where the flimsy tent was pitched.

For some time the city life had taken its toll on Bette. Life was rushed and it was stressful. Working for high profile museums and big name universities meant that she always had to strive to one up everyone around her. More and more the dog eat dog lifestyle was consuming her.

On top of that, there was Tina. Bette had loved Tina, and at one point in her life she'd thought she'd never love anyone but Tina, but the truth remained that they weren't good for each other. There was simply too much pull between them for the relationship to work. They had Anjelica, and Bette wouldn't trade that aspect of their relationship for the world, but the rest wasn't working and hadn't worked for a long time. Now it was clear that they worked better as friends, and co-parenting Anjelica was easier now that they'd accepted that they were, perhaps, better apart than they'd been together.

Tina was happily settled now with a woman that seemed to work well with her, and Bette thought she was good with Anjelica. Her name was Madeline, and she worked in real estate. Tina had spent more than a few conversations with Bette trying to excuse the woman's profession, but Bette really could care less what the woman did as long as she made Tina happy.

Bette, for the first time in a while, could finally say that she was happy. She'd been stressed looking for a new job, but Jodi had handled much of the move for both of them, making things seem to fall into place in a way that Bette hadn't imagined they could. They both had jobs now, Bette with a small museum just outside the city, and Jodi with a private University even closer to their home than Bette's job.

The house was complete, and Jodi had the summer to finish decorating it and turning it into what she proclaimed would be the love nest of their dreams. She was also in the process of having a workshop built out behind the house so that she could continue to work on her sculptures without having to travel far from home.

"What are we supposed to do for dinner?" Bette signed. "There's nothing to eat here."

"We'll live on love," Jodi said with a broad smile.

"Really? We can eat that?" Bette asked.

Jodi nodded. After a second she smiled again.

"I went shopping," she said. "We have roasted chicken in the fridge and I bought food for a salad. There's even the makings of pancakes for breakfast."

"You thought of everything?" Bette asked. Jodi nodded enthusiastically in response.

It really did seem, lately, as though Jodi _had_ thought of everything. The house was larger than Bette thought it needed to be, but it seemed so perfect. There was so much light and already it was all so natural. Jodi was adding touches here and there to make the place inviting. She seemed very concerned with the fact that it be something that Bette would find pleasing, and Bette was almost as taken by her desire to please as she was by the transformation of the space.

Their bedroom was already a shrine, almost, to the relationship they'd built and the future they hoped it had. There was a room for Anjelica that Jodi had carefully decorated to be a dream location for the little girl. The attention to detail, so far, was staggering. For as much as Jodi had ever professed that domesticity wasn't her thing, she'd proved herself wrong in merely forty eight hours. Perhaps domesticity in the city wasn't her thing, but she was thriving in their new location.

"I was thinking," Jodi said, drawing Bette out of her daydream, "that the house will be ready in two weeks. We should have a party. Invite everyone up. Let them see our new home."

"Like a dinner party?" Bette asked, teasing Jodi with her eyes. Jodi loved to give her a hard time about the amount of planning that she normally put into any sort of gathering.

"Yes and no," Jodi said. "A party, but a party that suits this, our new life. No lists."

Bette frowned.

"Jodi, I appreciate this whole free spirit, new life…I really do, but if we have a party without some kind of planning it's just a recipe for disaster," Bette said.

"Disaster is another word for adventure," Jodi said. "Let me throw the party. I have time to handle everything. You just focus on you."

"Oh, you've got time for everything?" Bette asked. Jodi nodded.

"Until the school year starts, I don't have anything I have to do except make you happy," Jodi said. "That means that the house will be ready in two weeks, and we'll have a party. You don't have to do anything but enjoy yourself. I will handle the rest."

Bette smiled. She reached over and gently brushed Jodi's cheek.

"You've already made me happy," Bette said. "If it means that much to you, we'll have the party, and you can plan it however you like."

Jodi grinned.

"You just tell everyone to come," she signed. "Leave the rest to me."

Bette nodded.

"Are you hungry?" She asked Jodi.

"Starved," Jodi replied.

"Go take a shower," Bette said. "You've got paint all over you. I'll make the salad and have it ready when you get out. We can have a romantic dinner."

Jodi looked around the room a moment before looking back at Bette and smiling.

"We don't have a table yet. The rest of the furniture is coming in the morning," Jodi said.

"We've got blankets," Bette signed, resting her glass on the floor beside her feet. Jodi tilted her head but didn't respond. "We'll have a picnic, right here on our floor."

Jodi smiled and nodded her agreement with Bette's idea.

"Very romantic," Jodi said.

"Just go shower," Bette said, "and then you'll see how romantic I can be."

Jodi winked at her and got up from the couch. Bette stayed seated while she watched Jodi ascend the stairs, cross the upstairs area, and disappear into their bedroom. She picked up her wine glass, finished off the contents, and got up to go and get their dinner ready.

She was really going to enjoy this new life. She may have had her doubts about a lot of things, but this wasn't something she had any doubts about at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Jodi turned on the coffee pot and drug the dishes out of the box that she would need to prepare breakfast. That was the first thing on her list of things to do today as soon as Bette left for work: unpack the kitchen.

She also needed to make another run into the neighboring town for more groceries. Their whole mentality was going to have to change to adjust to life out here; that much was for sure. It wasn't as simple as it had been in the city to do most things. There wasn't going to be any of those last minute trips to the store to buy something special for dinner. Now Jodi was going to have to prepare in advance for everything.

Still, it would be worth it. Already she felt younger just waking up here. The house was perfect, and it wasn't even decorated. She had a book full of cloth samples to pore over in her down time just to pick out the curtains, and hanging the art was going to be exciting, though she'd already decided she would employ Bette's help for that to make sure that Bette was happy with the placement.

The coffee was almost done. Jodi glanced around but the house was still and she knew that Bette wasn't up yet. If she was going to have time to enjoy breakfast and not be hurried, she'd need to get a move on.

Jodi mounted the stairs and made her way into the master bedroom. Bette was asleep on her stomach, the cover pulled back. Jodi made her way to the bed and slid onto the mattress, her hands going directly to Bette's arms.

Bette stirred a little and opened her eyes, one hand swiping at her face, the other crawling back under her pillow.

"Good morning," Jodi said, leaning close to her lover's face and kissing her on the cheek. Bette smiled and rolled over sending Jodi toppling on top of her before she could rearrange her arm. Jodi pushed herself back up to hover over Bette.

"Morning," Bette signed.

"Your coffee is ready," Jodi said. "I'm making pancakes. Yours will be ready by the time you make it downstairs."

Bette smiled at her and sat up a little, pressing her lips softly to the Jodi's jaw.

"Can we have breakfast on the porch?" Bette asked.

"Of course," Jodi said, smiling. "We can have breakfast anywhere you want to." She leaned up and planted a soft kiss on Bette's forehead. Pulling herself back, she got to her feet. "Start thinking about what you want for dinner. I have to go shopping today and I need to buy food for the week. We can't go shopping everyday anymore."

Bette didn't respond to her other than to sign her agreement, and Jodi slipped out of the bedroom, leaving Bette to get ready. She padded down the stairs and started getting everything ready so that she really would have pancakes to offer Bette when she was dressed.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111

Bette wasn't used to being up so early, but she had her morning routine and if that was going to go uninterrupted with life out here, then she was going to have to adjust to an earlier wake up call. She was dressed now, though, and the weather was nice. She leaned back in the temporary chair that Jodi had put on the porch and looked out over the yard.

Jodi was already talking about the possibility of building a barn and getting Anjelica a pony. That had been their discussion before bed. Bette had tried not to laugh at the suggestion. She certainly didn't know anything about taking care of livestock, and she doubted Jodi did either, but Jodi had all but picked the animal out.

Bette's musings were interrupted when Jodi appeared on the porch carrying a cup of coffee and a plate of pancakes. She handed the plate to Bette and drug over a workhorse that had been left by some of the workers. She balanced the coffee cup on it and held her hands out as though she were presenting her masterpiece to Bette.

Bette laughed at her. Jodi wasn't the same as she'd been back in the city. She was lighter here. She was all smiles this morning and Bette couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked with the early morning sun glimmering off of her hair. She was wearing white pajama pants and a blue tank top that had paint on it. She'd probably meant to grab a different one this morning and ended up with the one she'd been painting in the day before. Right now all the clothes ended up on the floor.

"Where's yours?" Bette signed.

Jodi smiled and disappeared back inside. Bette started eating, glancing at her watch to make sure that time wasn't escaping her. She had a feeling that time could very easily get away from them out in their new little corner of paradise.

Jodi reappeared a few minutes later and Bette held her hand up, offering to take Jodi's plate while Jodi drug over one of the other chairs. When she sat, Bette returned the plate to her and watched as she balanced her own coffee mug on the same workhorse.

"Breakfast is wonderful," Bette said. Jodi smiled.

"I had the atmosphere specially ordered," Jodi said, looking around.

"Flown in from Paris?" Bette asked, teasing.

"Heaven," Jodi said.

They ate in silence for a moment.

"I wish I didn't have to go into work today," Bette said. "I'd rather stay here with you."

"We have the weekend," Jodi said. "I have a lot to do anyway. I'm going to unpack the kitchen, buy groceries, and there's still a lot of painting that has to get done."

Jodi turned her attention to her pancakes and Bette waved at her to get her attention.

"Are you sure you don't want me to get some help?" Bette signed. "You don't have to do all of this on your own."

Jodi shook her head adamantly.

"I want to do it. It's our home," Jodi said. "I want it to be special."

Bette smirked at her. She sipped her coffee and watched as Jodi finished off the stack of pancakes, taking longer to suck the syrup off her fingers than was absolutely necessary. She watched Bette as she sucked each one of them. It didn't take long for Bette to realize that she was teasing her. She made a face at her and Jodi winked.

"You weren't so crazy about home and family before," Bette said, allowing the smirk from earlier to return to her face.

Jodi shrugged and looked around again.

"Maybe it didn't matter," she said. "Maybe I had to be sure that I wanted it."

"And are you sure you want it?" Bette asked. Jodi nodded.

"This is my home," Jodi said. "It's been the home I dreamed about since I was a little girl. Now it's our home. That was the part of the dream that I didn't know I was missing."

Bette smiled.

"Our home," she said. "You're not afraid of those words?"

"Are you?" Jodi asked. She raised her eyebrow at Bette.

Bette sat back in the chair and sipped her coffee again. When she'd been with Tina she'd been sure that the home that they shared held that mystical element of being the idealistic stuff that homes were made of. It was going to be a place where they lived and loved. It was where they'd raise their family. She was going to grow old there with Tina and when their children moved off on their own, it would be the place that their grandchildren would come back and visit them.

But that home had fallen through. All those dreams and all those imaginings had crashed around them just the same as if they'd pushed over a china cabinet. None of it could ever be put back together. Bette could never be sure if it had been her fault, really, or if it had been Tina's. Maybe the fault hadn't lie with either them. Maybe the problem had been that she'd been trying to build a dream with the wrong person.

Sitting here, though, she could clearly see herself on the same porch, sipping coffee, surrounded by grandchildren. It was a vision that was like something from a cheesy Hallmark movie, but it was a clear image in her head just the same. Bette looked at Jodi, calmly awaiting her response, and realized that her face was one that she wanted to see in that terribly cheesy family film that played in her mind.

"No," Bette said, smiling. "I'm not afraid."

Jodi smiled. She pointed at her wrist and raised her eyebrows.

"What time is it?" She asked. "You don't want to be late."

Bette glanced at her watch and quickly finished the last of her coffee.

"I better get going," she said. "It's easy to get lost in the morning here."

Jodi stood up and Bette started to collect her dishes together. Jodi waved at her and reached out, taking them from her.

"I will take care of it," Jodi said. "You go to work. Text me what you want for dinner."

Bette walked over to the porch railing where she'd left her briefcase when she brought it out earlier. She bent and picked it up. Jodi made her way toward her, her arms loaded down with the breakfast dishes.

"Whatever you get for dinner will be great," Bette signed. "I won't work late tonight. Text me if the furniture people don't come today and I'll call them."

Jodi nodded at her, smiling. Bette leaned and kissed Jodi goodbye, slipping her tongue into her mouth and tasting the sweet taste of syrup mixed with the bitter flavor of the coffee that Jodi preferred black.

"Breakfast is better the second time around," Jodi said when they pulled apart. She winked at Bette. Bette smiled and chuckled a little.

"You better behave," Bette warned.

"What would be the fun in that?" Jodi asked, raising her eyebrow and turning quickly toward the door. Bette went down the steps from the porch and turned back just as she hit the walkway. Jodi stopped before going through the door and turned back to glance at her.

Bette waved and rushed to the car, not wanting to be late for her second day of work. Just because the museum was a small one didn't mean that she needed to start off on the wrong foot.


	3. Chapter 3

Jodi pushed the cart through the grocery store and tried to figure out exactly what they'd need for a week, realistically. She was thankful that Tom had been nice enough to drive up from the city for the day and was overseeing the movers that were bringing the rest of the furniture while she was out shopping.

The small town she was in was about a thirty minute drive from their house and was quaint. It had all the main necessities, and it was much more convenient than attempting to drive into the city, though Jodi could already tell that there would be a good number of things that Bette was accustomed to having that just weren't available here. She reasoned that they could drive into the city from time to time to visit friends and while they were there they could stock up on all of the luxuries that would keep her lover from being too stir crazy in their new home.

The vibration in Jodi's pocket drew her attention and she smiled. She knew that it was either Tom asking about something having to do with the trucks delivering items, or it would be Bette, and she hoped it was Bette before she ever wrestled the device out of her pocket.

"Missing you." The text from Bette read.

Jodi looked around, and noting that she wasn't blocking any other shopper from acquiring what they needed, she stopped and leaned against the cart for a moment.

"Grocery shopping. Missing you too. I'm buying everything. We won't need to leave the house for the rest of the week. Special requests?" She texted. Seconds later the phone vibrated again. Jodi checked a carton of milk for the expiration date and put it in the cart before looking at the screen again.

"Whatever you get will be fine. Kit wanted to drive up for the weekend. I told her that we had plans." Bette texted.

"Plans?" Jodi texted back. She pushed her cart forward and selected a few more items.

"I was hoping for a nice weekend together. You didn't make any other plans, did you?" Bette texted. Jodi shook her head at the phone for before responding.

"No plans. We need to buy curtains." She responded.

"Curtains can wait. Nobody's looking in the windows." Bette responded.

Jodi was considering what kind of teasing message she could send in response, but she was interrupted by another incoming text from Bette.

"Did the movers get there? Anything broken?" The text read.

"You can text Tom. He's at the house with the movers. I'll be home in about an hour and I'll let you know then." Jodi responded. She sighed at the phone and pushed forward a little more. She needed to get back to the house and oversee things there, but once Bette got started on a long conversation it could be hard to end it.

"Fine. I have to get back to work. I'll be home by six. Love you." Bette texted. Jodi smiled.

"Love you." She responded. She slipped the phone back into her pants pocket and determined to finish the shopping as quickly as possible. If she hurried, she'd have time to arrange at least the living room. She knew that Bette would be growing anxious about the lack of order in the house. Bette could pretend that she was fine with the chaos while they were getting settled, but Jodi had learned already that any chaos at all was enough to drive Bette crazy.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 1

Bette sat back in her chair and finished going through some of the paperwork that she'd stacked on the corner of the desk. There wasn't nearly as much to do here as she was accustomed to. Her phone hadn't rung more than three times all day. When she'd taken the job and discovered that she didn't have an assistant, she'd wondered how they expected her to get everything done. Now she was realizing that it wasn't going to be getting things done that was impossible, it was going to be not going stir crazy until it was time to go home.

She hated to keep bothering Jodi. Jodi was pretending, right now, that she was the one on vacation and that everything she was doing was nothing compared to what was happening during Bette's day. She was, after all, at the office and therefore hard at work. Bette had realized, though, that it was more than likely that Jodi was the one that was running around busy while she wasn't really doing anything.

Bette picked up the phone and called Tina. She was supposed to have Anjelica this weekend, but she'd told her that it would be better to reschedule, since they weren't sure about having everything in the house set up, and Bette didn't exactly want to be fumbling through cardboard boxes in the middle of the night for everything she needed to take care of a toddler.

Tina answered the phone on the third ring.

"Hello?" Tina's familiar voice drifted over the phone.

"Tina, it's Bette," Bette said. She knew that Tina already knew who it was. It wasn't really as if they still lived in the era of technology where your phone didn't alert you in any number of ways as to who was calling.

"Hi Bette, what's up?" Tina asked.

"Are you busy?" Bette asked. There was a hesitation on the other line.

"Well, yeah, kinda…" Tina said. "I'm at work, what's going on?"

"Nothing," Bette said. "I was really just calling about Angie. Are we still on to get her for next weekend?"

"Sure, that's no problem," Tina responded quickly.

Bette toyed with the paperclip dispenser on her desk and waited a moment before continuing.

"Jodi's going to pick her up," Bette said. "I know that I should pick her up, but I have to work and they won't let me leave until five, even though I could technically be done by then. I just thought if Jodi picked her up that would mean that she could be at the house by the time I got home and we could have more time to spend together. But if that's a problem…"

"No, no!" Tina said quickly. "No, that's fine. It's fine if Jodi picks her up."

Bette smiled to herself, relieved that Tina didn't have any problem with the arrangement.

"Good, I just didn't want it to be a problem," Bette said.

"No," Tina said, "no problem at all." She was quiet for a moment. "So how's the new house? The new job? You tired yet of living out there in the big blue yonder?"

Bette smiled to herself. She looked around the little office of the small museum. Several times she'd reminded herself that this was a completely new life for them both. Jodi would be outside her comfort zone too, just as soon as she got back to work.

Bette just had to keep reminding herself that this what she wanted, what Jodi wanted, and it was what they both needed. She hoped that when she finally unpacked some things at the house and bothered to decorate her new office, that she wouldn't feel so completely out of place, so much like she didn't belong. She was sure, too, that she'd adjust to the solitude and to the fact that they were so far away from their friends. They'd make new friends here, closer by, and Bette was sure that they'd be just as exciting as their old ones.

"It's…it's great," Bette said. She smiled so that the sound of her smile would trickle into her voice. "You know, we're just getting settled in and it's a lot to get used to, but it's really going to be wonderful. The house is great and Jodi's already making it feel like home. Last night we had this little romantic picnic dinner in the living room and…"

"That's great, that's really great, Bette," Tina said, cutting Bette off. "I don't really need to hear all the details, but I'm glad it's working out for you. I'm sure Angie's going to love the house."

"I think she is," Bette said. "Her room is almost ready and Jodi's already talking about getting her a pony."

"A pony? Wow…can't compete with that," Tina said. Bette thought she heard some annoyance in the woman's voice.

"Well, I mean I don't actually know if we'll get her a pony, it's just talk right now," Bette explained.

"Well, I'm really happy for you both," Tina said. "And I'll have Angie ready to go on Friday when Jodi picks her up."

"Wait, Tina, I thought we agreed that we were getting her on Thursday?" Bette asked. "You said we could have the extra day since you've got that thing with Madeline's parents coming up and we were giving up that weekend."

"Oh yeah," Tina said. "I guess you can still get her on Thursday. I hate for her to miss school, though."

"It's one day," Bette said. "We'll plan something special, some kind of learning experience."

"No, you're right," Tina said. "It doesn't matter. I'll have her ready on Thursday."

Bette knew that Tina wasn't too keen on letting her keep Anjelica for longer than the customary weekend, but if she was going to agree to give up entire weekends here and there for Madeline's needs, then she thought that Tina should at least be willing to give a little on the weekends when she did have her. Anjelica was, after all, her daughter, and she wanted to see her more than a few days a month.

"OK, then," Bette said. "I guess I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Bette," Tina said. She hung the phone before Bette could say goodbye. Bette hit the button to end the call and flipped through the stack of papers again. She was certain that she'd done all she had to do for the day, and she still had a couple of hours to kill before she could leave.

Bette was certain that all of this would eventually become routine, but until then she was going to have to consider taking up some kind of extra hobby to fill the time.

111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

When Bette walked in the door she was exhausted, and what surprised her was that she was exhausted from doing absolutely nothing. In the past two hours she'd taken three phone calls and of them had been a wrong number by an old woman who didn't want to believe that she had the wrong number.

As she came into the house she was unbuttoning her jacket. She stopped, just as she closed the door behind her. She hadn't expected to see the living room furniture pristinely placed and the dining room table set with a vase of fresh flowers in the middle of it.

Bette couldn't help but smile. The lights were off in the house, and even though the light still shone through the windows, it was dimmer in the living area than it had been outside. A fire was burning in the stone fireplace, even though the heat from it certainly wasn't necessary and was being offset by the air conditioner, and candles glimmered from nearly every surface. It looked like something out of a country living magazine.

Just over the bar, where you could clearly see into the kitchen, Bette could see the kitchen light on and Jodi was there, obviously preparing something that smelled wonderful. That was something about Jodi, the woman could make anything appetizing.

"You did all this?" Bette signed when Jodi looked up and smiled at her over the bar. Jodi nodded. "A fire? In the summertime?" Bette signed.

"It's romantic," Jodi responded.

"It is romantic," Bette said, not trying to hide her reaction. She wasn't sure that Jodi had seen her say it. She'd turned her attention back to whatever she was doing.

"Sit down," Jodi said. "Relax…" She drew out the word in the manner that she customarily reserved for when she was trying to convince Bette with her voice to do exactly what she was commanding her to do. Bette crossed the room and put her briefcase down. She took off her jacket and hung it over one of the chairs that they planned to use primarily for decoration. She slipped out of her heels and made her way over to one of the comfortable chairs that semi faced the fireplace and sank into it. She tipped her head back, closing her eyes. It was easy to relax here, that wasn't difficult at all.

Bette sat up a little when Jodi appeared in front of her, offering her a wine glass. Jodi leaned and put her own glass down on the coffee table. Bette accepted the glass, sipped the wine, and then put the glass on a small end table nearby.

"Wine, candlelight, a fire…" Bette said, smiling up at Jodi standing over her. "Are you trying to seduce me, or are you trying to cash in on the insurance already?" She signed.

Jodi smiled and straddled Bette, lowering herself onto her lap, facing her.

"I worked all day. I wanted it to be nice for you," Jodi said. She leaned in and kissed Bette softly, her tongue exploring Bette's mouth, her hands tangled in her hair. When Jodi pulled free, she kissed Bette's jaw and slowly trailed her mouth down her neck leaving a trail of slow, gentle kisses.

Bette shook her head a little and reached, catching Jodi under the chin with her finger and bringing her face up to look at her.

"What about dinner?" Bette asked, concerned that Jodi might get too involved in what she was obviously trying to do here and forget entirely that she was cooking something.

"It's ready," Jodi said. "I made lamb." She leaned and kissed Bette again. Bette smiled against her mouth and pulled her face back a bit.

"Are we going to eat it?" She asked, snickering.

She knew all too well the look that Jodi gave her then. Her lips pursed slightly together, her eyebrows raised. Bette felt herself shiver, surprised that though they'd been together for some time, she could still be completely turned on by just one simple facial expression. She swallowed, smiling a little and looking into Jodi's blue eyes, shining a little in the candle light.

"Dinner later," Jodi said, almost growling in the back of her throat. She leaned in and kissed Bette again. This time her tongue flicked quickly and playfully just inside Bette's lips. "Dessert first," she said.

Jodi smiled at Bette and stood up from her position. She slipped between Bette's knees and lowered herself to the floor, reaching for the button on her pants, her eyes staying locked on Bette's the entire time.

Bette shifted her weight, helping Jodi as she slid freed her from her pants and underwear. Bette tipped her head back, her breath catching as Jodi suckled her, her fingers sliding into her core. Bette slid forward, allowing her easier access. Jodi's unoccupied had slid up Bette's body and worked its way into her shirt, sliding under her bra and squeezing her breast.

When Bette came, biting back her cries, despite the fact that they were completely alone in the house, her hands tangled in Jodi's curls, she slumped back against the chair panting. After a second, she got her wits about her again and glanced down at Jodi who was still sitting on her knees on the floor.

Jodi wiped her mouth slowly and smiled at Bette.

"Hungry?" She asked. She put her hands on Bette's knees and pushed herself to her feet. Bette stood and returned her underwear and pants to their rightful locations.

"So now we're just eating dinner?" Bette signed, catching Jodi by the arm before the redhead could disappear toward the kitchen.

Jodi shrugged a little and nodded. Bette smirked.

"Are you trying to spoil me?" Bette asked. Jodi stepped forward and kissed Bette. Bette could still taste herself on Jodi's tongue.

"You can spoil me later," Jodi said. She winked at Bette and turned toward the kitchen. Bette smiled and shook her head, following after to help her with the plates.


	4. Chapter 4

By Friday night, Bette was almost miserable with her new job, but she was doing her best not to complain. She simply hadn't settled into any sort of routine. She'd at least occupied herself Friday by taking a box of things to work with her and decorating her office in her free time. When she'd gotten home, she'd marveled over how much Jodi had done throughout the day, and then they'd spent the evening watching The Little Mermaid because most of their things were still packed in boxes in the basement and the only videos that they could get to were Anjelica's. Still, it had been a nice evening, and Disney entertainment or not, they'd made the best of their night.

Bette rolled over in the bed and pushed her hair out of her face. The morning light was brighter than it should have been, but then that was to be expected. Jodi kept reminding her that they needed curtains. Jodi was asleep on her side, facing Bette, the blankets barely on her. Bette leaned on her elbow a moment, admiring the image that was Jodi sleeping.

Bette envied Jodi when she slept. Jodi was oblivious to the world, completely wrapped up in whatever dream was happening just behind her eyelids. As a result, she slept like the dead. Bette smiled and inched herself carefully closer to her lover, trying hard not to shake the bed. She slipped her hand under the cover, delicately seeking out the junction of Jodi's legs and watching her face to see how long she could tease her before Jodi realized the sensation wasn't part of some dream, but rather was Bette's wake up call.

At first, Jodi's face changed a little, but she didn't wake. Her breathing altered a little and she flopped onto her back, pulling away from Bette a little, still lost in sleep. Bette smiled at her, not bothering to stifle a snicker, and slid close enough that her hand found the nub she'd been lazily teasing earlier. Jodi was growing aroused in her sleep and beginning to squirm. Bette slipped a finger into her, continuing her game. She knew that it wouldn't be long before Jodi woke herself with her thrashing and she moved close enough so that her face would be the first thing that Jodi saw when she opened her eyes and tried to distinguish fantasy from reality.

Jodi woke a moment later, confused at first and then she smiled a little before Bette continued her teasing, causing Jodi to close her eyes again. Bette eased off a second more and Jodi opened her eyes, focusing directly on Bette. Bette smiled.

"Good morning," she mouthed. Jodi continued to stare at her. It was the same deep stare that unnerved Bette at times. It was as though the other woman was trying to look inside her soul, or at the very least, to read her mind. Jodi dipped her head a little, moving her hips to grind against Bette's hand that hadn't left it's original location. Bette smiled and responded, returning to her earlier movements.

Jodi thrashed and Bette readjusted herself, pulling her body over her lover's and taking her nipple into her mouth, biting down just hard to earn something between a whine and a whimper as she slipped another finger into her and increased her speed. She released Jodi's nipple and nibbled her way down her stomach, nipping here and there where she could pull the flesh between her teeth until she'd brought her mouth to do the work her thumb was doing earlier.

Jodi cried out, one of her hands tangling in Bette's hair, pulling it, the other going to her breast. Bette continued her assault on Jodi's body until she felt her stiffen, pulling herself away a little, and shake. When Bette came up to kiss her, Jodi's eyes were still closed, one hand lazily laid across her breast, her breath coming out in pants. Bette kissed her throat and trailed upward, kissing her jaw and then finally landing on her lips where Jodi's tongue met hers and they played together for a few moments.

When they broke apart, Jodi trailed her hand down as though she were going to return the favor and Bette caught her by the wrist, pulling her hand up kissing her on the inside of her wrist, just where her tattoo was located.

"Later," Bette said, smiling. "That was just for you."

"Just for me?" Jodi signed, raising her eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because you deserve it," Bette signed, "and because I wanted to."

Jodi smiled at her, leaning over to kiss her lazily again, her hand trailing around Bette's nipple. Jodi kissed her chest and then hovered over her, her face relaxed.

"Breakfast?" Jodi asked.

"Just had some," Bette teased. Jodi smiled.

"Something better?" Jodi asked, a hint of her devilish nature showing in her eye.

Bette shook her head a little.

"Nothing better when you've had the best," she said, smirking back at Jodi. Jodi kissed her again.

"Come on," Jodi said, "pancakes…sausage…eggs…whatever you want."

"What I want," Bette said, "is to stay right here for the rest of the day."

"We have to eat," Jodi argued. "Breakfast in bed?"

"Mmmm," Bette said, putting her hand to her chin and making a show of seriously considering Jodi's offer. "You've twisted my arm…breakfast on the porch?"

Jodi nodded enthusiastically. Bette pulled her back down, against her, and kissed her hard. She held her there for a moment, relishing the feeling and really not wanting to move, even if it did mean breakfast on the porch.

They were interrupted, though, when the doorbell sounded and the lamp on the bedside table flashed. Jodi pulled away from Bette a little, her eyes darting over to the flashing light.

"What is it?" Jodi asked.

"Doorbell," Bette said, not attempting to hide her confusion at the unexpected interruption to their first Saturday together in their new home.

"Who?" Jodi asked, wrinkling her eyebrow.

"You know as much as I do," Bette said.

Jodi moved off of Bette enough for Bette to get out of the bed. She fumbled around and found her robe, pulling it on and tying the waistband. She started out the bedroom and down the stairs, not knowing if Jodi would trail behind her or not.

Their friends could sometimes be known to show up uninvited, but that was far more likely when they'd lived in the city. It was an hour's drive for anyone and it was a Saturday morning. That was a long drive to take on the chance that Jodi and Bette were home. She figured they would have at least bothered to text first, just to be sure.

As Bette crossed the downstairs, she became quite certain that it wouldn't be their friends. Everyone knew they were working on the house and Bette had already spoken to Alice and told her that they had a romantic weekend planned. Alice was a big enough loud mouth that just letter her know would surely guarantee that everyone else in their little circle would be aware that they preferred to be undisturbed.

It was possible that it was Kit, though. Bette's sister had a way of ignoring completely, at times, that her presence might be less than desired. She also, it seemed, never needed Bette's help and attention quite like she did when Bette would have rather given her attention to other things, or to other people.

Bette pulled open the door without gazing through the peephole. There were no curtains and some of the downstairs windows overlooked the porch anyway, so anyone really curious about their life could have simply gazed in the windows and seen her approach to the door.

Standing on the stop, holding a gift basket with a garishly large bow was a thin brunette with long stringy hair. At first she reminded Bette a little of Jenny, except for the fact that she wasn't quite as thin as Jenny, and she wasn't quite as tall.

"Hi there!" The brunette said enthusiastically. "I just thought I'd stop by and welcome you to the neighborhood."

Bette looked at her, not attempting to hide her facial expression. What neighborhood? There wasn't another house around for at least three miles in any given direction.

"My name's Kate," the woman said, not giving Bette any time to respond or think of a response. "You can call me Katy, though. I live about three miles from here with my husband Bill. We knew that this house was finished, but we were giving you time to get settled in. I just thought I'd drop by, bring you a little something to say welcome and if you ever need anything you can give us a call."

Bette was staggered. The woman was speaking about three hundred miles a minute with an accent that was trapped somewhere between Southern, Midwestern, and Valley Girl. Bette stared at her, not sure what to do.

"I'm…um…" Bette found herself suddenly unable to articulate her thoughts. "I'm Bette," she said, trying now to hide the expression she felt creeping across her face.

"This is so nice! Did you plan it yourself or did you see the plans somewhere? I keep telling Bill we need to rebuild. The house we have is great and all, but it could be better. Go better with the landscape, you know? Like this house, it just fits here, doesn't it? Just like it was meant to be here. Is your husband home? Did I wake you up?" Kate asked. "I'm so sorry, I guess it was rude of me to come over so early and all, I just thought that I might catch you at home this way."

Bette felt like she couldn't breathe. For some reason when Kate opened her mouth and the rush of words came pouring out, they seemed to knock Bette backwards. For a moment she envied Jodi being deaf. She'd never have to know what Kate sounded like…and from the speed and manner of speaking that Kate had, it was likely that Jodi would never have to know half of what Kate was saying.

"I'm sorry," Bette said, trying to figure out what to do with the attack of Kate first thing in the morning. "Could you just wait here for a second? Would you like some coffee?"

Kate looked like she was considering it. She craned her neck around Bette as though she were trying to see into the house and Bette assumed that as soon as she banished their new guest to the porch the woman would be looking, unashamed, through the windows.

"Sure, I'd love some coffee," Kate responded.

Bette tried to smile.

"Great," she said. "Why don't you have a seat, and I'll be right back. Just one minute," Bette said. She motioned her hand toward the deck table and chairs and was thankful that Jodi had already set them up. Bette wasn't ready for the likes of Kate in her home just yet. Kate nodded and turned toward the chairs and Bette closed the door, sinking against it for a second and trying to get her breath.

"Who is it?" Jodi signed, coming down the stairs in pajamas instead of in her robe.

"Some crazy person named Kate," Bette signed back. "She's on the porch…wants to welcome us to the neighborhood…wants coffee. I'll be right back."

Jodi looked confused for a moment and then shrugged, shuffling toward the coffee pot. Bette darted up the steps to change into clothes, not daring to look back for fear that Kate's face would be pressed to one of the window panes.

When Bette came downstairs after dressing quickly, Jodi was standing in the kitchen and preparing three cups of coffee. Bette knew the polite thing would be to ask Kate how she liked her coffee, but she didn't really care at the moment. Maybe if they served it to her some way that she didn't care for, it would prompt her to leave sooner and they could salvage their morning. Bette stepped quickly into the kitchen and took two of the mugs, ignoring Jodi's protests as she headed for the door. She opened it, slipped outside, and set a mug of black coffee in front of the guest, taking one of the extra seats. Jodi stepped out behind her, closed the door, and sat at the other end of the table. She reached her hand toward Bette and signed that Bette had grabbed her coffee. Bette leaned across the table and traded mugs with her.

"Jodi," Bette said, signing as she went, "this is Kate. Kate, this is Jodi."

Jodi smiled at Kate and shook her hand. Kate returned the smile and took a sip of her coffee, her gift basket having been placed on the porch beside her.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked, having watched Bette sign with some curiosity.

"Signing," Bette said. "Jodi's deaf."

"Oh! I'm sorry," Kate said, still focused on Bette. "Is she your sister? It's awful nice of you to take care of her."

Bette wrinkled her forehead and wondered in what parallel universe she and Jodi might be mistaken for sisters.

"No," Bette said, "she's my partner, and she's just deaf. There's nothing wrong with her."

Bette glanced at Jodi. Jodi was sipping her coffee, gazing around and not paying a bit of attention to Bette or their guest. Bette was envious. She wished that she could conveniently ignore Kate's presence.

"Your partner?" Kate asked, question crossing her face. Bette realized the girl was maybe in her early twenties at best, and suddenly she had the feeling that someone as simple and naïve as the original Jenny Schecter had crossed their paths again. She hoped she was wrong. "You mean like business partner?"

"No," Bette said, plastering on her best smile, "I mean like romantic partner. Jodi and I are life partners."

The girl looked at her a moment, and then a look that could best be described as terror crossed her face.

"Oh my gosh!" Kate said. "Do you mean you're _lesbians_?" She hissed the last word in such a manner that Bette couldn't control herself and she chuckled at the girl's ignorance. Bette nodded, fixing her face. "Oh!" Kate exclaimed. She looked at Jodi and the back at Bette. Jodi continued to ignore everything, simply smiling a little when she noticed that Kate was looking in her direction. "Oh, well, I'm open minded and stuff about all that. Bill, though, he wants to meet y'all. I don't know how he's going to be about it. He's a real man's man, you know? None of that sissy stuff for Bill. He'll probably get a real kick out of it, though, two women kissing and stuff."

Bette tried not to let the disgust cross her face.

"He sounds just wonderful," Bette said sarcastically. "Can't wait to meet him."

"We could stop by sometime for dinner. I'd love to see the rest of your house. Are you all moved in yet? Which one of you does the decorating? I mean, who's the woman?" Kate asked.

Bette could see that her earlier sarcasm was lost entirely on the girl.

"We're both women," Bette said, chuckling a little. "That's how _lesbians_ work," she responded, laying the sarcasm on a little heavier than before.

Kate smiled at her. Again, the sarcasm had missed its mark.

"Well, that's cute," Kate said. "Are you done building? We have a pool at our house, and a small stable. I wanted to get horses, but we haven't picked any out yet. Bill says only the best, but we're not sure what we want yet. He's a songwriter. He's got a few big hits out. You probably know them if you listen to the radio, he's done music for just about every band out there."

Bette tried to hide the fact that the more the girl talked, the more she couldn't believe that they weren't suddenly trapped in some kind of hellish nightmare. Jodi was sitting with her elbow rested on the table now, her chin in her hand, and she had begun to look bored. Reasonably so, of course, since Kate had her back to her.

"We're done building for now, except for a workshop that they're going to start building next week," Bette said, trying to remain dignified. "It won't be much, just a studio type thing for Jodi to work in."

Kate ignored her. She dug around in her purse for a moment and came up with a pen and a piece of paper. She wrote her number down on the paper and passed it to Bette.

"Well, it was really nice to meet you," Kate said. "I can't stay too long. Bill loves having me around and when I'm gone for too long it bothers him. I told him I'd only be a few minutes. I hope you enjoy in the basket and give me a call. I'll stop by sometime later and have a look at the house and we can talk about when we want to do dinner."

Kate stood up and before Bette could respond in any way, she half bounded down the steps and made her way to her car. She did a half wave as she seated her sunglasses on her face and crawled in the car. Bette sat quietly until the woman drove off.

"Did you get any of that?" Bette signed to Jodi. Jodi took a swallow of her coffee, watching Bette over the top of the mug. She shook her head in response. "You're lucky," Bette signed. "Our new neighbor is a homophobic nitwit who thinks we want to have dinner with her and her husband."

Jodi rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"They're everywhere," she signed.

Bette smiled and sat back, realizing that she was tense just from the brief meeting with Kate. She could only hope that the woman didn't make it a habit to stop by, and that she wasn't representative of the new kinds of people they were going to find up there.

"Don't let her ruin your morning," Jodi signed.

Bette sighed and nodded at her.

Jodi finished her coffee and stood up, taking her mug and the one that had been left by Kate, almost full.

"I'll make breakfast," Jodi said. "Then we can do whatever you want. We don't have to worry about Kate. We don't have to worry about anything."

She winked at Bette and disappeared into the house. Bette shook her head and took a deep breath. Maybe they could get a dog. A big, intimidating, attack dog. They could keep it at the bottom of the porch steps and train it to smell homophobic dingbats and their musician husbands.

Bette chuckled to herself at the thought and tried to put Kate out of her mind. She was going to enjoy the rest of her Saturday with Jodi, and later they would laugh about the whirlwind of annoyance that had swept through and tried to wreck the serenity of their day.


	5. Chapter 5

Jodi wasn't nearly as worried about this party as Bette was. Bette always had a tendency to get high strung about these things and Jodi couldn't figure out why. These were their friends, for the most part, and it was just a little gathering to give everyone an excuse to come up to the new house and proclaim how much they liked it and how much they missed having Bette and Jodi close enough for impromptu visits and coffee at the The Planet at all hours.

But in typical Bette fashion, Bette was a nervous wreck about it. Jodi was trying, for the most part, to ignore her. Everyone would be there in less than two hours, and she didn't feel like spending the next two hours focusing on every minor detail that would drive Bette insane.

Jodi got Anjelica dressed in the little outfit that she'd bought for her. It was a colorful little pantsuit and it had a headband, but Jodi got tired of fighting with the headband after a while and raked Anjelica's curls into pigtails instead, signing to the girl that the headband was silly because it didn't fit. The little girl grinned at her and signed back about negotiating for a snack. Jodi agreed and took her hand, helping her out of the nursery and down the stairs into the living room. She set up a video to play and went into the kitchen to get Anjelica something to hold her over until dinner.

Bette was getting ready and when she finished getting ready she was supposed to watch Angie while Jodi finally got a shower. Dinner was all ready to go on, and it wouldn't take thirty minutes to finish when it was time to put it all together.

Jodi brought Anjelica her snack and offered her a cup of juice. When she turned around she wasn't expecting to see Bette there, already dressed.

"You look…" Jodi stood back, admiring Bette, "beautiful!" She smiled and took in all the extra care that her partner had put into her appearance. Bette knew how to draw attention; that much was true. "But," Jodi said after a second, "why are you so dressed up? We told everyone to be comfortable."

"I am comfortable," Bette said. Suddenly the expression crossed her face that she normally got when she felt that Jodi disapproved of something. Jodi knew the expression well and knew that if she didn't backtrack a little it was going to lead to some big misunderstanding that could only end in an argument. Bette hated to be questioned about anything, even if it was something as simple as the fact that she was sorely overdressed.

Jodi decided this wasn't worth any kind of conflict. She just wanted a nice evening. The house wasn't completely done, but it was close enough, and she wanted to show it off. She wanted to relax with their friends and have a nice meal, and most of all she wanted to avoid fighting with Bette.

"I'm sorry," Jodi said. "You look great. Can you watch Angie? I need to shower."

Bette nodded, still wearing the hurt expression a little. Jodi nodded at her and started toward the stairs, but Bette caught her arm. Jodi turned toward her, raising her eyebrows in question.

"You know, I just want it to be a really nice evening," Bette signed. Jodi smiled and nodded. This was it. This was the beginning of the end. She could feel it. There was absolutely no way that the expression that Bette was wearing right now could lead to any conversation that wasn't going to end up having them fight, and Jodi was sure it was going to be over something stupid. She didn't say anything though, she just waited for the inevitable "but" and hoped that it wasn't anything to serious. "Are you sure that it was a good idea to invite that crazy neighbor? I mean if she comes and she brings her possibly macho asshole husband, that's not going to end well."

Jodi nodded her head. The crazy neighbor, Kate, had caught them yesterday when they were unloading all the groceries for the party. Jodi had mentioned the word "party" and the woman had been all over it. Jodi didn't sincerely think the woman was coming. She hadn't paid much attention to her, but Bette told her that she was homophobic, and Jodi assumed that she was probably rational enough to figure out that a good number of their friends would probably practice the same lifestyle that they did.

"Don't worry about it," Jodi said, smiling. "Just enjoy the evening. If they come, they'll leave quickly. We won't let it ruin anything. It's going to be a nice night. Everyone is driving up just to see us. Don't let one person ruin the fun."

Bette nodded, but Jodi could see that she wasn't convinced entirely.

"I'm going to shower," Jodi said. "Everything is ready to go. You don't have to worry about anything."

Bette smiled then, though all the concern hadn't left her face entirely.

"No, you're right," Bette said. "It's going to be a good night, I don't know why I was so worried. You go take your shower."

Jodi smiled and leaned over, kissing Bette. The party might not be the social event of the season or be written up in magazines, but Jodi was sure that it was still going to be a good night, crazy neighbors or not.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Alice and Tasha had driven up with Kit. Apparently all three of them were staying the night. Bette thought it would have been nice of them to let her know that, since they technically had two guest rooms, and plenty of other places for people to sleep if need be, but none of that was ready for company. Some of the furniture was in them, but nothing had really been set up, and now Jodi was busy looking for sheets and things in the basement and pretending that something urgent came up that she needed to take care of.

Then there was the fact that Shane and Mollie were there, obviously fighting about something, which wasn't going to help set the best mood for the evening.

And now Bette was finishing up dinner while everyone sat around making conversation and Jodi was off somewhere trying to pretend that they'd prepared for overnight guests. Bette kept glancing at her watch, hoping that the fact that the neighbors were late meant that they weren't going to be graced by their presence.

"OK, everyone," Bette called. "You can take places at the table. Jodi needs to be at the end, but she insisted on not setting places so you can go wherever you want."

"Where the hell is Jodi anyway?" Alice called back. "I haven't seen her since we got here."

"She's coming…" Bette called, coming around from the kitchen carrying a salad bowl. Kit took her cue and immediately got up, heading into the kitchen to help her carry things. "She had some kind of…some kind of last minute emergency thing come up…she'll be here in a minute."

Bette hoped that her lie worked. They had told everyone that anytime they wanted they were welcome to crash at the house, and she understood how they could have interpreted that to mean that this weekend would be a great time to do so, so she didn't exactly want to make them feel unwelcome. At least Mollie and Shane wouldn't be staying. From the looks of them they weren't likely to stay long after dinner. Bette had no idea what they were arguing about, or when it had started, but the fact that they weren't even sitting near each other at the table left it fairly clear that it was something pretty big.

Jodi reappeared just as Bette was bringing the last of the dishes from the kitchen.

"Did you get it?" Bette mouthed at her. Jodi nodded and leaned in, pecking Bette on the cheek before taking one of the plates.

"Jodi!" Shane and Alice called at the exact second that Jodi appeared at the table.

Jodi smiled and waved at everyone. She had only been there to greet the first wave and hadn't seen Shane and Mollie. Shane got up from the table and crossed around the other guests, wrapping her arms around Jodi's waist and swaying with her a little. She pulled back from her, smiling.

"The house is beautiful," Shane said. "You did great!"

"Thank you," Jodi said, all smiles.

"And dinner's wonderful too," Shane said.

"That's all Bette," Jodi said. She turned and winked at Bette.

It was a lie. Most of the dinner had been prepared earlier in the day by Jodi, but Bette appreciated her partner's desire to give her as much credit as possible for anything at this event. Bette was feeling a little less tension as she sat down, watching Jodi get Anjelica into her high chair and slide her between the two of them.

Bette decided she should make some kind of toast. She stood up and tapped the side of her glass with her knife. Everyone gave her their attention and she tried to sign as she spoke so that Jodi might get enough of the speech to be involved. Bette hated leaving her out of things, but she'd learned from dinner parties of the past that she would only sign things that she said directly. She wasn't getting burned anymore because she interpreted for other people.

"We want to thank you all for coming. We know it's a long drive and you have plenty of other things that you could do on a Friday night, but we're glad that you chose to come and spend your evening with us. With the new jobs, and the new house, and the new life for us both, it's very important to us to have your love and support."

"Hear, hear!" Shane said. Everyone laughed.

Bette sat down and leaned across the corner of the table to kiss Jodi, ignoring the ooohs and ahhhs of their guests. Everyone started eating and conversation was kept light. Most of it was recounting everything that had happened in the past two weeks. Bette felt like nothing much had changed since they'd been gone. Everything that was happening was the same old same that always seemed to happen.

Alice talked about her new television job, Kit told about things at The Planet, Mollie brought messages from Phyllis and Joyce, both of whom wished they could have come, but because of some kind of departmental party that Phyllis was throwing they weren't able to sneak away. Tasha, as she normally did, sat pretty silently and listened to conversation, only interjecting now and again to tease Alice or tell her that she was getting out of line with how she recounted one story or another.

Nothing much had changed, as far as Bette could see.

When the phone rang, and the light by the couch flashed, everyone's attention was suddenly drawn. Bette signed to Jodi that the phone was ringing and tried to continue dinner as it was, despite the interruption. When the answering machine kicked on, though, it was obvious that no one was focusing on the food until the message was played out.

"You've reached the home of Bette Porter and Jodi Lerner. Please leave a message and we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you!" Bette's voice rang out. Bette hated hearing herself on the machine. She waited a second while the machine went through the normal bells and whistles before it began playing the message that was being recorded.

"Hi! It's Katy. I know that you were having that dinner party tonight, and I am soooo sorry, but we won't be able to make it. Bill had some of his musician friends over and we couldn't cancel on them. That's just how the celebrity lifestyle is sometimes! I'm so looking forward to seeing your house though! I was thinking that maybe I could swing by sometime next week and we could go out for lunch or something. I'm going to look for a new car and I thought someone might want to tag along, it could be a girl's day! So anyway, I hope your party's great!" Kate's annoying voice rang out and everyone at the table looked at each other.

Bette sighed and signed to Jodi that it was Kate on the machine and that she wanted to do some kind of hellish girl's day with them.

Jodi smiled and put her hand on Bette's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I'm the one that's here all week. She'll come by, see it's me, and then run away."

"Who's that?" Alice asked.

Bette sighed again and rolled her eyes.

"Kate or Katie or whatever the fuck her name is," Bette said. "She's some kind of nightmarish neighbor we've got. She's like twenty and she thinks we want to be friends with her, but she's homophobic and apparently thinks Jodi is mentally handicapped."

Jodi took a bite of her food, focusing on Bette for a moment and smiled.

"She's young, and she doesn't know much. She bothers Bette," Jodi said.

"She doesn't bother you?" Shane asked, leaning around so that Jodi could see her.

"No," Jodi responded, shaking her head. "I don't care about her, so she can't bother me. She's just a kid."

"A kid who doesn't know what's appropriate and inappropriate to say," Bette said, signing.

"It's OK," Jodi said. "Don't let her ruin the evening. At least she didn't come."

Bette saw Jodi cast her eyes over the rest of the table like she was begging for someone to say something, so Bette decided to drop the issue. Jodi was right. The evening was going well, and she wasn't going to let this little kid ruin things.

"So, the residence of Bette Porter and Jodi Lerner," Kit said. "How does that feel?"

Bette smiled at her sister and chuckled a little. It was something new to get used to as well. They'd stayed together for a while, either at Bette's house or at Jodi's loft, while the house was being built, but it was new to actually live together, and to do it officially enough that both of them had their name on the mail, and both of them had their names on the answering machine.

At first Bette had wondered if it would take some getting used to. She'd never actually _lived_ with a partner officially except for Tina. She'd worried that it would be too much to adjust to and that the little things would freak her out, but so far they hadn't. It actually felt good to say that she and Jodi were partners, that they were living together, and that they were honestly giving this the best shot that they could.

"It feels good," Bette said, looking directly at Jodi. Jodi smiled at her and Bette returned the smile, loving the way Jodi crinkled her nose when she smiled like that. "What do you think?" Bette asked Jodi. "How does it feel to say this is our home?"

Jodi sat up, making the most dramatic thinking face that she could and held it for a moment. Bette almost laughed because she knew that Jodi was putting on a show for her. Finally, after a second, Jodi chuckled at herself.

"It's perfect," Jodi said.

"Well it sounds pretty damn good to me too," Shane said. "To Bette Porter and Jodi Lerner, may they have a long and wonderful life together!"

Shane made a show of raising her glass and everyone else took part in the toast. Bette was glad that everyone was being so supportive. Things had been tense a time or two with her and Tina and all the back and forth that had taken place involving their flailing relationship, but her friends had always been there, in some shape or form. There had been times, of course, when they'd been on one "side" or the other, but in the end it seemed that everyone had come around to realizing that they could care about Bette, and they could care about Tina, but their lives just weren't going to be shared with each other. They'd always have Anjelica, and because of that there would always be some connection between them, but they were moving on to bigger and better things.

11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111 

Jodi had never found out exactly what had been going on between Shane and Mollie, but she figured they'd know by lunchtime the next day. Shane would likely text Alice to relieve a little stress, and Alice was sure to let everyone know what had happened. They'd resolve the conflict, though, they always did.

When Jodi had first met Shane, Shane had been a different person. She was so against commitment that it seemed like she was almost allergic to it. In a way, Jodi had once been the same kind of person. Mollie, however, brought out something in Shane that no one else had before. They'd had their battles since they'd been together, their ups and downs, but they always seemed to magically work them out.

Mollie completed Shane, perhaps in a way that Shane never knew she needed to be completed. Jodi felt the same way, sometimes, about Bette. Now that they were together, and she really felt that Bette was in this, Jodi couldn't imagine her life without Bette. Bette made her happy, truly happy. She'd learned to let go of a lot of things that used to bother her, a lot of things that she thought she'd never be able to overlook, just because they weren't important enough to her to hold onto if they were going to do anything to damage what they had together.

Jodi loved Bette, and it was something that she'd never felt for anyone before. What was more than that, though, was that she finally believed that Bette loved her. It had taken Jodi's threat to get out of Bette's life and out of her way before Bette had come back to her, a different person, but Bette _had_ come back, her heart in her hand.

When the dinner party was through, being quite the success in Jodi's opinion, everyone had stayed for a while, chatting and laughing. Finally, though, Shane and Mollie had excused themselves. Apparently Shane had a hair appointment early the next day and Mollie had some kind of court thing going on. Jodi had hugged and kissed them both goodbye and left everyone else to see them off while she'd taken Anjelica upstairs to get her ready for bed.

Anjelica was another factor of Jodi's life that surprised her. When she'd met Bette, she'd thought she didn't like kids. She'd always seen kids as something that got in the way of life. They took away freedom and they kept you from really enjoying the things that you wanted to experience. She had to admit, though, that the closer she'd gotten to Anjelica, and the more time the little girl spent with her and Bette, the more that Jodi realized she'd been wrong before.

Kids did take away some of your freedom, that much was true, but they brought so much more to the table that it more than made up for anything they took. When Jodi put Anjelica to bed after reading her a bedtime story, and the little girl had kissed her goodnight and signed to her that she loved her like she always did when she put her down to sleep, Jodi couldn't help but appreciate how precious the child had become to her. The only thing she hated about living so far from the city, honestly, was that they couldn't have the little girl more often than they did because it wasn't as convenient as it once had been.

When Anjelica was down, Jodi had gone downstairs to find Kit and Bette cleaning up. She sat in the living room and entertained Alice and Tasha, answering their questions about the house and getting the scoop from them on all their latest news. She realized that they were likely repeating some of it for the second time that night, but they didn't seem to mind.

They hadn't stayed up too much longer after Bette and Kit joined them. Before it got too late, their guests were ready to turn in and Jodi escorted Alice and Tasha to the downstairs guest room while Bette took Kit to the upstairs guest room that was going to serve as a type of guest room and office combo. Jodi was a little ashamed of the condition of both rooms. She hadn't had time yet to really get them ready, but at least the beds were in there and the sheets were clean. She hoped that their guests could forgive them for not having everything in perfect order so soon after they'd moved in.

Finally, everything done, Jodi went into the bedroom and got ready for bed while Bette did a final tour of the house for the night, locking everything up and making sure that everything was cut off that needed to be. Jodi crawled under the covers and waited, smiling when Bette came into the room signing lazily about how tired she was and stripping her clothes off, laying them over the chair for Jodi to put away later.

Bette collapsed into bed and switched off the lamp, enveloping them almost in total darkness were it not for the nightlight in the room. Jodi preferred to keep the tiny lights on in all the rooms. She didn't care for the rooms to be completely dark. At first it had bothered Bette a little, but she'd adjusted to it by now and didn't seem to notice the faint glow anymore.

In the semi darkness, Bette searched out Jodi's face and Jodi met her, their lips pressing together a moment before their tongues did the job of saying "goodnight" and "I love you" and everything else that their voices didn't say before they both rested their heads on their pillows.

Jodi closed her eyes, ready for sleep. The last thing she felt before she drifted off was the comfortable weight of Bette's hand resting on her waist.


End file.
